Racial slurs in dictionaries

Conference item

Are racial slurs and pejorative words expressed by abusive ethnic designations in the French language pertinent in a dictionary? Isn't any pejorative word or expression, particularly when it is using an ethnic designation, derogatory? Our intention is not to treat the global problem of racism, only the linguistic words and expressions referring negatively to the nomenclature of people. Far from wanting to be the "language police" raising the "politically correct" flag, we are inquiring into the existence of some forty racist ethnic designations, particularly in two well known dictionaries: Le Petit Robert (PR) and Le Petit Larousse (PL). Although we briefly present the adversary position related to insults and racial designations, we will discuss to what extent those words and expressions are important, particularly for foreigners or second language learners. Their existence should not offend anybody since they innocently describe the meaning without hateful propaganda. Of course this position will be debated. The result of our search, after the analysis of some forty racist terms and expressions, concludes that these racist terms are found in different forms and structures. The above-mentioned dictionaries, although they mostly agree on the definitions, are lacking consistency in the labelling of these terms. Uniformity in the "chronological-register-notational" marking would be most beneficial for dictionary users.

Authors: Farid, G

• Alternative title: Presented at French Lexicography session
• Publication status: Not published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Language: English
• Keywords: dictionaries; racial slurs
• Subjects: French